Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, first Russian cosmonaut, you probably know him. People from Latvia know him too, they say that during the Soviet Times Russian authorities wanted to rename Latvian capital city Riga after Yuri Gagarin to Gagarin city, but they didn't for some reason. So they decided to commemorate the glory of the hero in bit different way. They have made a monument of Gagarin, but

not just a monument. Yuri tragically died in plane accident during the test flights he participated in while on his service in Russian army in his young age. Latvian monument builders decided to imagine what if he didn't die how he could like at his 70s and built such a monument which tends to look how Yuri Gagarin could look in his old ages. You can see it below:

This shot was one of the most famous shots made by Russian photographers during World War 2. It was made in the ruins of Stalingrad city - the place where the most heavy city battles took place. Some historians say that after those battles near Staliningrad the Nazi invasion of Russia broke down.

The monument itself depicts Russian children dancing around a crocodile, looking so unreal with the traces of bullets on the sculptures and the burning ruins on the background. Later, after the war the monument was rebuilt, even earlier than surrounding buildings.

Probably everyone has seen Red Square and the Kremlin, probably they are the main symbol of Russia if to say in representation terms or associations. Not everyone has seen those in big detail. The star above is one of the Red Stars that are on top of the Kremlin towers. Each Red Star of the Kremlin weighs more than a ton but can rotate as weathercock

wherever the wind blows. They are made from special "Ruby Glass" and have two layers of the glass making the stars looking red in any weather. The power consumption of each star is around 5 kWt. They have been damaged during the World War 2 and were refurbished later. Below there are some more close-ups of the Red Square ensemble.

The Ostankino tower, built in Moscow in 1967, was built for four years and after it was completed became the word's tallest man made structure. Also it was the world's first building exceeding 500m tall. It stayed the tallest structure in the world for 9 years, and for 42 more years as the tallest

structure in Europe. Those are photos of how it was built. It weights more than 32 thousand tons. It has two "enemies" - the Sun and win. Due to wind its top can fluctuate for 10 meters (33 feet) and due to Sun heating it from one side it can also move to 2.2m (6.6 feet).